There has been plenty of criticism directed at Chris Wood after he failed to score for the six successive game since joining Newcastle United in a £25million move from Burnley during the January transfer window.
This is despite the Magpies' impressive 2-0 win over Brentford on Saturday, where goals from Joelinton and Joe Willock gave Eddie Howe's side a fourth victory in five Premier League matches.
It's a result that leaves them 14th in the Premier League table, four points above the relegation zone and the Magpies have seemingly turned things around after a difficult start.
However, a talking point from the game at the Brentford Community Stadium is the form of Wood, whose struggles in front of goal continued and it's something that is concerning the Newcastle supporters.
Although his all-round impact has been excellent, the New Zealand international hasn't found the net in his last 11 top-flight games after failing to score in his final five outings for former club Burnley.
In actual fact, this is Wood's longest drought since the 2014/15 season when he went 16 matches without a goal at Leicester City (6), Ipswich Town (8) and Leeds United (2).
Wood bounced back from the dry spell by scoring in three consecutive matches for Leeds and quickly began to re-find his form.
Something that Newcastle fans can learn from this is that Wood tends to go on an impressive run once he gets over a barren spell and this could be a positive sign once he scores his first goal.
The 30-year-old also went nine matches without finding the net when he was at Birmingham City in 2011, but responded with eight goals in his six games, including the first hat-trick of his senior career.
Most recently, Wood had a 10-match drought at the start of 2018/19 but finished the campaign on 13 goals - having also struck twice in Europe.
It seems as though Wood is a confidence player and he might just need that one goal to get his Newcastle career underway despite all the work he has done for the team, leading the line in Callum Wilson's absence.
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He has recorded the second-highest expected goals at the Magpies during the last five games (1.21) - with only Joe Willock (1.56) ahead of him.
This could indicate that Wood has been unlucky not to get off the mark and some fans also feel that a goal is coming given the job he's doing for the team up front.
Wood has reached double-figures for goals in each of his last three campaigns, and although it's looking unlikely that he'll get to that landmark this time round, there is optimism that he can start putting the ball into the back of the net.
This is because of how he has impacted others' performances, including Willock, who has seemingly stepped up since Wood made the switch to the Toon, while Ryan Fraser has benefited from the forward's presence.
The Magpies have actually scored an average of 1.5 goals with Wood in the side, compared to 0.89 during the first half of the season, and he has been an influential part in their seven-game unbeaten run.
But after netting just three times this season, Wood will be hoping to return to form when the Magpies take on Brighton & Hove Albion next weekend.
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